Occult Sciences Research Articles

Persian Garlands of Stars: Islamicate and Indic Astral Sciences in Seventeenth-Century North India

Abstract This paper offers a study of Mullā Farīd and Mullā Ṭayyib, two astronomers active in several North Indian courts in the first half of the seventeenth century. The lives and works of these two brothers illustrate the central role of mathematical astronomy and astrology in the science of the time and its use by Indian Muslim nobility. They also document the familiarity of Indian Muslim scholars with Indic astrology and its practice in Muslim milieux. Mathematical astronomy was very much alive in seventeenth-century Mughal India, and Persian-writing scholars were commenting and revising the astronomical data and mathematics transmitted from the Maragha and Samarqand schools of astronomy. Their intellectual activities are also better understood in the context of the avid interest in occult sciences cultivated by early modern Persianate societies, and more particularly by the Mughal court. Mathematical astronomy was nurtured for the precise purpose of casting horoscopes and creating astrological almanacs. Astrological practices in North-Indian courts, including Delhi, the Mughal imperial capital, were evidently mixed and flavoured with elements from both Islamicate and Indic traditions. Knowledge was widely shared across languages and scientific interests went well beyond religious denominations. Crucially too, the exchange between the Persian and the Sanskrit scholastic worlds was sponsored by Mughal patrons and resulted in scientific translations from one language to the other. A closer reading of Mullā Farīd and Mullā Ṭayyib’s Persian works allows us to see that besides their more classical astronomical works, the two brothers shared a common interest in Indic methods of prognostication, in particular muhūrtaśāstra, the science of electing an auspicious moment to perform a certain action. In this paper, we elucidate an intricate dossier on the “bust hours,” an ancient prognostication method popular with Islamicate astrologers. Identified by Islamicate scholars as coming ultimately from India, the source of many features of Islamicate astrology, these bust hours were reinterpreted on Indian soil by Mullā Farīd and Mullā Ṭayyib in light of their first-hand knowledge of muhūrtaśāstra. In this manner, these bust hours came back full circle to the original Indian prognostication practices.

Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Pain Management in Cancer Patients

The field of Natural Health Sciences and Occult sciences is getting high attention and gaining importance in treatment of several diseases, that are not responding the traditional practice. However, the lack of extensive research and data supporting these fields is preventing them from becoming accepted method of treatment. Complementary and Alternative Medicine is not mysterious but science itself. In the last decade there is substantial research in these areas like aura, bioenergy or electromagnetic energy, radiation energy from bodies and techniques to measure these energies leading to wider acceptance. Holistic Healing is the practice of health that considers the entire person and all of the factors affecting the person and it is based foundational principles of Aurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine and Herbal medicine. Holistic medicine uses Mind and Body techniques, Natural products, Energy and Spiritual healing. Survey released by National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM-NIH) revealed that 56% of population in US and in advanced countries uses CAM. Randomized Clinical studies conducted with 189 Patients undergoing standard chemotherapy, placebo or Reiki found that Energy healing (Reiki) was statistically significant in raising the comfort and well-being of patients post-therapy. Further, in the systematic review of 5 randomized clinical trials, two studies reported statistically significant reductions in pain when Reiki was used in addition to opioid agents. Additionally, energy healing on oncology patients undergoing infusion, showed 50% reduction in mean pain scores after each treatment. The investigations suggested that the sessions were considered helpful to improve well-being (70%), relaxation (88%), pain relief (45%). Similarly, in another cross over study, it was shown that in all sixteen cancer patients included in energy healing sessions, fatigue decreased, and quality of life was significantly improved with the reiki sessions compared with rest. Recent studies demonstrated that acupuncture was significantly associated with reduced cancer pain and can decrease the use of analgesics with moderate certainty of evidence. In addition, biology based practices like Herbal, probiotics and vitamins are also used to reduce pain. These methods are accepted by various professional certification agencies like National Certification Center of Energy Practitioners (NCCOEP) and Alliance of Energy practitioners (NAOEP) that is serving as resource for research and literature support. In summary, the complementary and alternative medicine field is upcoming and gaining acceptance as therapeutic method to increase patience confidence and reduce impact of ailment.

The Owl and the Occult: Popular Politics and Social Liminality in Early Modern South Asia

AbstractHistorians of Islamic occult science and post-Mongol Persianate kingship in the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Empires have in recent years made clear just how central this body of knowledge was to the exercise of imperial power. Alongside, scholarship on tantra has pointed to its diffuse persistence in the early modern period. But what dynamics beyond courts and elite initiates did these investments in occult science and tantra unleash? Through a focus on the seventeenth-century Mughal court and the Rajput polity of Marwar in the eighteenth century, this article weaves together the history of animals with that of harmful magic by non-courtly actors. It demonstrates the blended histories of tantra, Islamicate occult sciences, and folk magic to argue that attributions of liminality encoded people, animals, and things with occult potential. For some, like the owl, this liminality could invite violence and death and for others, like expert male practitioners, it could generate authority. By the eighteenth century, the deployment of practical magic towards harmful or disruptive ends was a political tool wielded not only by kings and elite adepts for state or lineage formation but also by non-courtly subjects and “low”-caste specialists in local social life. States and sovereigns responded to the popular use of harmful magic harshly, aiming to cut off non-courtly access to this resource. If the early modern age was one of new ideologies of universal empire, the deployment of occult power outside the court was inconsistent with the ambitions of the kings of this time.

Current debates and emerging trends in the history of science in premodern Islamicate societies.

This roundtable brings together contributions from nine senior, mid-career and junior scholars who work on the history of science in pre-1800 Islamicate societies. The contributions reflect upon some of the challenges that have historically constrained the subfield, how they have sought to overcome them, and what they see as some of the more productive and fruitful turns the field has taken and/or should take in the future. A central trend in all contributions is how they seek to confront the combined weight of colonialism, Orientalism, and the teleological history of science that continues to haunt contemporary discussions in both academia and the general public with regards to science in pre-1800 Islamicate societies. Without diminishing the pioneering achievements of the generations of historians who have preceded us, and upon whose work we continue to rely, this combined weight has tended a) to marginalize the study of occult sciences in Islamicate societies; b) to emphasize investigations of content from an etic perspective of how we got to the present, which is primarily seen as how the scientific content is connected to the rise of modern science in Europe; and c) to concomitantly marginalize the study of science in post-1200 Islamicate societies, particularly those with little to no connection to the rise of "Western" science. The contributions build upon conversations that took place among participants in December 2019 at a workshop at New York University (NYU), Abu Dhabi Institute in New York City, funded by a grant from NYU Abu Dhabi.

Safavid Twelver Lettrism Between Sunnism and Shiʿism, Mysticism and Science: Rajab al-Bursī vs. Maḥmūd Dihdār

ABSTRACT This comparative case study takes up the examples of two Twelver lettrists, who together became two of the most important occultist authorities of the high Safavid period: al-Ḥāfiẓ Rajab al-Bursī (d. after 1410) and Maḥmūd Dihdār Shīrāzī (fl. 1576). Their projects are intimately connected, and can only be historiographically explained in tandem. Yet the first has been celebrated in the literature as a passionate, semi-extremist Twelver mystic, and the second—a sober, experimentalist Twelver occult scientist—totally elided. Nor has any study to date identified both authors’ primary point of scholarly reference: the New Brethren of Purity network of imperial Timurid and Ottoman Pythagoreanizing occultists radiating from late Mamluk Cairo, capital of the lettrist renaissance to which they were consciously heir. To correct such elisions and imbalances, we must forswear the persistent scientistic-cum-religionist dogma that vanishes lettrism and other mainstream occult sciences into the wastebasket, apolitical category that is ‘mysticism,’ thus exiling much of Safavid intellection from early modern history of philosophy, of science and of empire. For al-Bursī, taking a page from his contemporaries the New Brethren, is the first Shiʿi author to draw directly on Ibn ʿArabī (d. 1240) and Aḥmad al-Būnī (d. btw. 1225–33) both, the two foremost Sunni lettrists of the later Islamicate scholarly tradition, representing lettrist theory and lettrist praxis respectively; and Dihdār—the most prolific Persian author on practical Būnian lettrism of the sixteenth century, and hence immediate inspiration for the al-Bursī cult of the next—provides us an invaluable window onto how Safavid philosophy was actually imperially, occult-scientifically practiced, as well as the evolution of the Western grimoire tradition as a whole.

TURKIC MANUSCRIPTS FROM PRIVATE COLLECTIONS OF ALHAJIKENT (KAYAKENT DISTRICT, REPUBLIC OF DAGESTAN)

As part of the research project of the RSCF No. 22-18-00295 “Electronic library of Arabographic manuscripts from archival, library, museum and private collections of Russia”, the authors conducted an archeographic expedition in the summer of 2022 to the Kayakent, Akhtynsky and Suleiman-Stalsky districts of the Republic of Dagestan with the aim to identify private and mosque collections of manuscripts and books for their subsequent description and digitization. Two private collections, belonging to K.M. Kamalov and Sh.Yu. Magomedov, were identified in the Kayakent district of Dagestan. They comprise around forty volumes of manuscripts and early printed books, as well as handwritten documents: assembly records, letters, registration of legal transactions, etc. Both collections have a common origin and are fragments of collections belonging to local religious figures: the last pre-revolutionary qadi of the village of Alhajikent, Qadi-Agay and his relatives Abuzar-qadi, local alim of the first half of the 19th century, Abdul Wahab Sheikh and Sheikh Mirza. The part of the collection of Sh.Yu. Magomedov was lost in the 1980s. The content of the collections is mainly represented by works in Arabic in the fields of grammar and stylistics of the Arabic language, Muslim law, dogmatics, occult sciences. Due to the loss of its part, the Sh.Yu. Magomedov’s collection covers the period between 1747-1748 to the first third of the 19th century, while in the collection of Kamalov K.M. there are earlier copies of manuscripts, which, according to paleographic characteristics, can be attributed to the middle of the 17th century. Our paper focuses on the few manuscripts in the Turkic languages, identified in the collections.

Occult Ecumenism: Maḥmūd Dihdār Shīrāzī's Unveiling Secrets as Exemplar of Timurid-Safavid Sunni-Shiʿi Science

AbstractThat Safavid Iran was scene to a boom in the occult sciences (ʿulum-i gharība) is now beginning to be acknowledged by specialists; what has yet to be appreciated is the extent to which that boom represented a smooth and conscious continuation of Mamluk, Aqquyunlu, Ottoman and especially Timurid Sunni precedent. In particular, lettrism (ʿilm-i ḥurūf), developed by the Pythagoreanizing, imamophile New Brethren of Purity as universal imperial science, was embraced by leading Safavid thinkers and doers as a primary Sunni means of Shiʿizing Iran. This occult continuity is epitomized by the oeuvre of Maḥmūd Dihdār Shīrāzī “ʿIyānī” (fl. 1576), the most prolific Persian author on lettrism of the sixteenth century and teacher to Shaykh Bahāʾī (d. 1621) himself. His Unveiling Secrets (Kashf al-asrār)—a passionate prosimetric paean to Imam ʿAlī as cosmic principle in strictly Akbarian-Būnian terms, like Rajab al-Bursī’s (d. after 1410) work before it—is contextualized and translated here as a case in point.

Further useful Psalms

Abstract An additional witness to the Byzantine tradition of application of Psalms for amuletic and other ritual purposes, conventionally termed “magical”, in a fifteenth-century codex on medicine and the occult sciences (Bologna, BU Ms. 3632), is edited and translated, and its place in the tradition is considered. Combined with another, indirect witness, references to analogous uses of the Psalms by Theodore Balsamon and Matthew Blastares, this evidence strengthens a recent suggestion of broad popularity for the practice in Byzantium.

English Occult Discourse as a Cultural Phenomenon

The paper reveals structural and functional peculiarities of English occult discourse as a cultural phenomenon. The research is based on the material of English explanatory and etymological dictionaries and texts manifesting occult discourse on the Internet. The paper uses a comprehensive methodology involving general scientific and special linguistic methods. The paper identifies the institutional forms and types of English occult discourse and outlines ways to study them. The term “occult discourse” denotes the general direction of discourse, which studies the peculiarities of communication in all institutional activity areas beyond science and official religion. Based on the results of etymological and componential analyses, we conclude that occult discourse contains such primary genre varieties as astrological, magical, and alchemical. Regarding socio-cultural features, we note that the function of these types of discourse stem from the symbolic and social meanings that are added to the relevant practices. Thus, the acquisition of occult sciences is part of the general system of thinking and beliefs in a particular society, allowing us to study the relevant fragment of the English worldview in mythological and naive versions.

Islamicate Occult Sciences in Theory and Practice, edited by Liana Saif, Francesca Leoni, Matthew Melvin-Koushki, and Farouk Yahya

Islamicate Occult Sciences in Theory and Practice, edited by Liana Saif, Francesca Leoni, Matthew Melvin-Koushki, and Farouk Yahya

Matthew Melvin-Koushki. “The Occult Sciences in Safavid Iran and Safavid Occult Scientists Abroad”

Matthew Melvin-Koushki. “The Occult Sciences in Safavid Iran and Safavid Occult Scientists Abroad”

Introduction On the Histories and Futures of Black New England Studies

Introduction On the Histories and Futures of Black New England Studies

Physics and Psychics: The Occult and the Sciences in Modern Britain, by Richard Noakes

Reviewed by: Physics and Psychics: The Occult and the Sciences in Modern Britain by Richard Noakes Ruth Heholt (bio) Physics and Psychics: The Occult and the Sciences in Modern Britain, by Richard Noakes; pp. xvi + 403. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2019, $115.56, $49.44 paper. Of his study, Physics and Psychics: The Occult and the Sciences in Modern Britain, Richard Noakes declares, "This book is about the heyday of 'physics and psychics' which took place in the period circa 1870–1930. … It argues that the study of psychical phenomena occupied a much more significant place among late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century physical scientists than we have assumed" (5). This admirably clear introduction to the text begins a fascinating trawl through the controversial subject of the relationship between physics and psychical research. We are familiar with the debates around science and psychics, and indeed, Noakes has conducted some admirable research into this area over the years. However, this book makes a differentiation that opens things up and brings exciting new nuances to a somewhat well-worn debate. The main point is that Noakes concentrates on physics in particular rather than science in general, and the fruitful difference this focus makes is surprising. One of the striking things about the book is that Noakes often does not separate out the psychic from the physical in a way one might expect from a twenty-first-century scholarly monograph. Instead, he shows that the emergence of physics as a discrete scientific discipline happened alongside the rise in interest in psychic phenomena (material, philosophical, technological, spiritual, and scientific). Moreover, the two shared the same platform and, for many people, were hardly distinguishable. This is a very new take on the scholarly discussion of the relationship between the occult and the supernatural, on the one hand, and science, on the other. Most work on the subject sees them as coming together at various points of interest but not as being conceived and emerging together. Noakes, however, cites "an entangled cultural history of physical and psychical sciences" (19). This is evidenced in his coined term "physical-psychical scientists" (19). Eschewing the terms "pseudo-scientists" and "pseudo-science" (he uses "alternative sciences") makes this stance one [End Page 122] of the freshest and most exciting aspects of the book (8). Coming at the subject with serious intent and with no objective of debunking people who were serious about their work allows Noakes to obtain a depth of discussion not often found even in the most admirable works on the subject. As he states early on, psychical and physical sciences were intermingled from the start; the reciprocal implications "were taken much more seriously than we have acknowledged" (19). This is a dense book which is a labor of love and the culmination of many years of work. Not designed to be read in one sitting, it is organized in a way that will allow scholars and students to find a rich depth of material to suit their needs even if they do not read the book from cover to cover. The introduction gives a comprehensive overview of the way that scholarship has dealt with and examined the subject over the years. From looking at the decline in religion, to considering specifics of belief and new technologies, to exploring underlying tropes around gender, class, race, intellectual trends, and psychology, the introduction provides an extremely useful survey of academic discussions about the subject of science and the occult and what might be termed the supernatural. This introduction could easily become the go-to place for students and scholars interested in this area. The book is peppered with famous names such as Franz Mesmer, Michael Faraday, William Crookes, Oliver Lodge, and John Elliotson. And, perhaps because of the scientific slant that the scholarship is exploring, it is quite male-centric, and I feel some of the key texts on women, the occult, and science have been missed. Where, for example, is Diana Basham's 1992 The Trial of Woman: Feminism and the Occult Sciences in Victorian Literature and Society, or Marina Warner's work, notably Phantasmagoria: Spirit Visions, Metaphors & Media (2006)? Also (although I acknowledge a distinct...

Savants et savoirs à la fin-de-siècle

The Savant certainly represents one of the most popular figures in French literature at the end of the nineteenth century. A specialist of the various branches of knowledge, this emblematic figure seems to reflect the great passion for science that characterizes this particular historical era, in which progress and technological discoveries play an important role in everyday life.Savants of all kinds invade the literary fiction of these years, crossing the great multitude of literary genres that enriches the cultural panorama of the fin-de-siècle. Doctors, scientists, professors, inventors become the recurrent protagonists of literary productions, conquering the main literary scene, from Naturalism to Science fiction and from Symbolism the Decadent movement. In addition to these scientific figures, other types of Savants permeate fin-de-siècle fiction. Occultists, magicians and sorcerers indeed play an important role in the literary genres, thus embodying other forms of erudition: “occult sciences”.This article investigates the multifarious aspects of the figure of the Savant, using critical tools to analyze three emblematic novels of the fin-de-siècle literature: Le Docteur Pascal (1893) by Émile Zola, Le Vice suprême (1884) by Joséphin Péladan and L’Ève future (1886) by Auguste Villiers de l’Isle-Adam. This study aims to identify the differences between scientific and occult Savants, but also their numerous analogies, which reflect the cohesion that exists between various literary genres during these years.

Hubungan Pengetahuan dan Perilaku Terhadap Pencegahan Penularan Penyakit Kusta di Wilayah Kerja Puskesmas Tempiral Tahun 2021


 Leprosy, by most people better known as leprosy (leprosy), is still a disease that is feared by the public, even by some health workers. So far, the community has developed a stigma that leprosy is a disease of God's curse, a hereditary disease or because of occult sciences that are difficult to cure or even cannot be cured, are considered shameful and cause disgrace to the family..In general, the purpose of the research is to know it the relationship of knowledge and behavior toward the prevention of the transmission of leprosy in the work area of the Puskesmas Tempiral in 2021. This study includes research that uses quantitative correlation methods with a Cross Sectional approach and the number of samples is 30 people. The variables studied were presented in the form of a frequency distribution table and tested with univariate and bivariate analysis, namely by using demographic data instruments, knowledge questionnaires and behavioral questionnaires on the prevention of leprosy transmission and questionnaires on prevention of leprosy transmission. The results of the chi square test get a p value of 0.000 which means that there isit the relationship of knowledge and behavior toward the prevention of the transmission of leprosy in the work area of the Puskesmas Tempiral in 2021.The conclusion in this study is that there are isit the relationship of knowledge and behavior toward the prevention of the transmission of leprosy in the work area of the Puskesmas Tempiral in 2021

THE OTHER SIDES OF PESANTREN: MAGICAL PRACTICES AROUND PESANTREN IN BANTEN

This research discusses practices of the magical culture in pesantren in Banten. The research model used in this study is qualitative-descriptive. Historical studies are used to present a narrative and chronological presentation of the storyline of a discussion. Pesantren in Banten has distinct characteristics compared to other pesantren in Indonesia. Most people believe that Banten is a Province in Indonesia that is famous for its ulama, kyai, santri, and pesantren. Those stereotypes and beliefs arise because Islamic values have been rooted strongly in most Banten citizens traditionally, culturally, and ritually. One of the characteristics of pesantren in Banten is that every santri is taught magic, silat (martial art), and tasawuf knowledge. Those characteristics have always been a matter of discussion because people believe that there are practices of magic in every pesantren in Banten. Some sources mention Banten as a center for the occult sciences, as well as known as a religious region. Magical practice is still considered important for the people of Banten, especially those living in rural areas to solve practical problems in their social life. In addition, the existence of jawara (warrior) and pesantren has created its own culture that is different from the dominant culture of Banten society.

Alchemy in an age of disclosure: the case of an Arabic Pseudo-Aristotelian treatise and its Syriac Christian “translator”

Abstract This article examines a little-known and unstudied alchemical treatise, The Epistle on Alchemy (al-Risāla fī l-ṣināʿa) attributed to Aristotle, purportedly translated from Syriac into Arabic by the Nestorian bishop ʿAbdīshōʿ bar Brīkhā (d. 1318). In particular, I investigate the Epistle’s discourse on the concealment and revelation of alchemical knowledge. Like other occult sciences, alchemy was characterised by a marked concern for secrecy and frequently employed codes, or Decknamen, when discussing the “Noble Art.” Yet the author of the Epistle consciously avoids such conventions, choosing instead to disclose its mysteries in an open and accessible manner, while making clear that secrecy would otherwise be necessary were the reader deemed unworthy. By engaging with scholarship in Islamic and Jewish occult science and esotericism, I show that the author of the Epistle navigates the boundaries between concealment and disclosure by framing his treatise as a private exchange between two foundational figures of philosophy and kingship: Aristotle and Alexander the Great. Based on a study of the Epistle’s sources and genre, I consider it possible that the work was not a translation of any Syriac original but a composition by ʿAbdīshōʿ himself and a product of the Arabic-speaking, Islamicate environment in which he lived.

In code we trust: the concept of rumūz in Andalusī alchemical literature and related texts

Abstract In the medieval Arabic tradition of the so-called occult sciences, the concept of ramz (symbol, code) has acquired an important role in the way the authors were considering and reading the texts of their predecessors and writing their owns. This term, closely related to the notion of secret, covered various ideas of code: from allegories and allusions to codenames and secret alphabets. Above all, the alchemists made ramz a real topos of their literature. In this paper, we focus on the Rutbat al-ḥakīm of Maslama b. Qāsim al-Qurṭubī (written in 339–342/950–953) and some of its main sources, such as the corpus of texts attributed to Jābir b. Ḥayyān, Ibn Waḥshiyya’s Filāḥa Nabaṭiyya, the Rasā’il Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ and the Risāla Jāmiʿa. We argue that Maslama produced a detailed definition of ramz, conceived a true typology of it, and proposed his own key to reading the alchemical ramz. This rich development is not found in any of the other texts that we have examined here. This observation confirms that Maslama b. Qāsim al-Qurṭubī, far from being a simple transmitter of Eastern ideas and practices to the Western Arab-Muslim world, was an original and innovative milestone in the transfer of knowledge.

The Alchemist’s work: Ibn Arfaʿ Raʾs and the reception of his collection of alchemical poems Shudhūr al-dhahab

Abstract In recent years, scholars have increasingly turned their attention to the social contexts of Islamic manuscripts related to the occult sciences. With regard to manuscripts dealing with Arabic alchemy, however, in-depth studies are still lacking. This article aims at shedding some light on the readers and owners of Arabic alchemical literature, focusing on Ibn Arfaʿ Raʾs, a Moroccan alchemist of the twelfth century, and his collection of poems entitled Shudhūr al-dhahab (“The Splinters of Gold”). In the centuries following Ibn Arfaʿ Raʾs’s death, his dīwān became a “bestseller” and was copied numerous times in many parts of the Islamicate world. The 94 extant manuscripts bear witness to this incredible success and allow us to take a closer look at the milieus in which this text circulated.

The Occult Properties of the Qurʾān (Ḫawāṣṣ al-Qurʾān): Notes for the History of an Idea and Literary Genre between Religion and Magic in Islam

Abstract Although the science of the occult properties of the Qurʾān (ʿilm ḫawāṣṣ al-Qurʾān) has been regarded by Muslim intellectuals as an independent discipline within the classification of the sciences and has generated an independent literary genre over the centuries, it has never been the subject of a specific survey within Islamic Studies. Often wrongly considered simply as a component of related disciplines, the most important texts belonging to this genre remain understudied and are not critically edited. Many reasons suggest that the study of the genesis of this concept, of the homonymous discipline and of its literary corpus represent an important desideratum for the history of magic and of the occult sciences in Islam. Based on philological examination of numerous primary sources, this article aims to situate the science of the occult properties of the Qurʾān and its literature within the History of ideas in the Muslim world.